YuGiMon: Legendary Crusaders
by Animasterod2198
Summary: Enter the new world of Yugimon, a place where Pokemon Duelists become Kings! Join the adventures of Cole, Finn and Friends as they make their way through the Pokemon Duel Academy to become Champions! Written by both Hotrod and Animaster
1. The Trials: Part 1

**Yu-Gi-Mon**

**Legendary Crusaders**

**Animaster21: Hi guys, it's me, Animaster21! You might not know me, but I've written a few stories about Pokemon, Digimon and Dragon Ball Z. Anyway, about a year ago I came up with this idea combining Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon into one universe called Yu-Gi-Mon. Basically, it's Yu-Gi-Oh with Pokemon for cards. For example, a Bulbasaur card is a level 3 monster with 1100 attack points and 1300 defence points. **

**Anyway, Hotrod and I decided to do a collaboration fic, so we created this account, Animasterod2198 to do it. It's set in the Pokemon World, but the basic Yu-Gi-Oh concept. It's sort of based off GX, but with a different storyline and stuff. Now, onto Hotrod!**

**Hotrod198: Thank you for the introductions Animaster. So here is a collaboration fic between Hotrod and Animaster. And before any flamers say it should be in the crossover section, the only similarities are the fact they used cards, its set at duel academy and some plots are based off of the GX season. We have about four seasons planned and maybe more so it should be good. Anyways, read on fellow readers! This chapter is written by Animaster, edited by me.**

**000**

Episode 1

The Trials: Part 1

Finn Jackson was confident as he stepped off the train into Saffron City and looked around. He was wearing a black, leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, and his spiky black hair was blowing in the wind. Around his neck was a small silver cross.

Finn put his hands to his waist, where hung a deck holder with his set of cards in it. His whole life he had spent collecting the pokemon in this deck, and it was unstoppable. Or so he thought. Finn tended to conveniently forget the few losses he had obtained in his life.

Saffron City was huge, and the 15 year old almost got lost as he walked along the busy streets. There were no cars, but there were hundreds of people. It was very confusing in the city: a lot of the buildings looked identical, but luckily, Finn's destination stood out like a pimple on a pumpkin: The Saffron City Stadium.

As Finn neared the Stadium, he saw out of the corner of his eye a small shape squeeze out of his deck pack and float up to his face. It was a black shape, in the shape of the letter A, with a large eye in the middle, and was slightly transparent.

"Hello, A!" said Finn. The Unown A blinked at him, which he took to be a greeting. "You ready?" Unown bobbed up and down in mid-air, the equivalent of a nod. "Then let's go!"

He entered the stadium, forcing his way through the hundreds of kids around his age crowding around. Today was the entrance exams of Duel Academy. Located in Celadon City, Duel Academy was famous for churning out hundreds of professional duelists into the Pro League. Finn could barely contain his excitement as he looked around at his surroundings.

Suddenly, a loud voice rang out over a loudspeaker.

"_All new duelists report to the command desk! I repeat; all students report to the command desk!_"

Finn thought the best thing to do would be was to follow the instructions. He walked over to a tall man with long blonde hair stretching down to his waist. He had purple lipstick on and a massive blue coat, with pink sleeves and a pink collar. On each shoulder was a gold frill. He looked very effeminate, and was talking in a loud, wailing voice to a shorter, older man in a white lab suit.

"Excuse me," interrupted Finn. "Which way is it to the command desk?"

The tall man looked miffed. "Can't you see I'm talking?" he snapped at Finn, who was unmoved. The shorter man was more kindly.

"Now, now, Chronos! We wouldn't want this promising young duelist to get lost this close to being enrolled in Battle Academy!" he said. This man's voice was halfway between high and croaky, and had an odd halting manner about it. "It's over there," he said pointing at a door down the corridor, which had a large line waiting outside.

"Oh, I don't know why you bother with scoundrels like him, Oak!" scoffed Chronos, as Finn walked towards the door and joined the end of the line. As he waited, an official looking person in another lab coat with a large white moustache passed, and the brown-haired boy following him bumped into Finn as he hurried by.

"Sorry!" the boy called back, and Finn nodded in recognition, before turning back to line. Ten minutes later, he had moved a lot closer to the front of the line, and before long was at the head of the queue. A man waved him through, and he followed the man into the main stadium. For the trials, it had been split into several areas. In each area was a potential recruit duelling against an Academy Proctor.

As Finn watched, a boy with black hair combed back used a spell card to evolve his Feebas into a Milotic, who then proceeded to attack the Proctor the boy was facing and win the duel.

"_Wow," _thought Finn. "_He's good!"_

Unown A popped back out and nodded again. Finn turned back to the man he was following, who turned into one of the areas. Over his back were slung two duel disks, and he pulled both off, throwing one to Finn.

"We will now begin," he said. "If you can beat the training deck that I will use, then you will be enrolled in Battle Academy. Ready?"

Finn nodded, but before the Proctor could start the duel, they were interrupted by the man than Finn had annoyed before, Chronos.

"Hold it there, Proctor," he said, staring at Finn cruelly. "I'll be taking this duel!"

"But, Sir!" protested the official. "You're not allowed to duel him, unless you're using a practice deck! Do you want to borrow the one that I was going to use?"

"No," said Chronos angrily. "And my title is Doctor Chronos, or Professor, you fool!"

"I'm sorry, si-Doctor Chronos," said the Proctor. "But it is against the rules."

"I make the rules around here!"

"No you don't," argued the man. "Professor Oak does."

Chronos was silent for a full five seconds. "Shut up!" he eventually said. "I'm duelling this pip-squeak whether you like it or not."

"Sorry, Doctor Chronos," sighed the Proctor, and he left the area. Chronos looked at Finn, who gulped. He knew that this strange man was trying to stop him from getting into the Academy.

"Ready for your duel, then? I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm gonna lose this! Say goodbye to the Battle Academy," he said sadistically, and unzipped his blue coat. On his chest was a deck holder, which was holding Chronos' cards. Strapped to the holder was a Duel Disk, but for some reason it was missing a deck slot and graveyard slot. Suddenly, Finn realised that the deck slot was the holder on his chest. The Duel Disk was built right into his coat!

"Wow, nice Disk!" Finn said.

Chronos smiled as well. "You've got a long way to go until you're respected enough to get one of these, you slacker! Let's duel!"

Finn grinned, and pulled his deck from its case, and slid it into the Training Disk that the Proctor had given him. The blue dome on top of it glowed brightly, and the card slots slid out from the centre.

"You're on, Prof!"

"How dare you call me that?" screeched Chronos. "You will address me as Doctor or Professor Chronos!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Finn, waving his hand casually. "Let's just get on with this."

"Fine, if you're in such a hurry to lose!" taunted Chronos. "I'll start!"

**Chronos: 4000**

**Finn: 4000**

He held his hand up to his deck on his chest, and six cards slid out straight into his hand. Placing them into his other hand, and looked at the cards.

"Not a bad start," he said. "Let's get this show on the road, so I can get rid of you. I start off by summoning Large Kabuto, in attack mode!"

He placed the card in a monster card zone, and it appeared on the field. A small display flashed up next to it, showing that Large Kabuto had 1500 attack points.

"And now I'll finish off with a face-down card! Your turn, if you could call it that."

"Let's go," exclaimed Finn, deftly drawing a card and flipping it around in his hand so that he could see it. "Perfect! I summon Unown R, in attack mode!"

A small black pokemon in the shape of an R appeared on the field, with 1000 attack points.

"In case you didn't know, each Unown gains 200 attack points for every Unown on the field, including itself!"

Chronos laughed as R's points rose to 1200. "You think that'll stop my Kabuto?"

"Not on its own," said Finn. "But I'm about to activate R's other special ability! Now I can choose any Unown that's four stars or less from my hand, and then summon it to the field! And I pick Unown T, giving R another 200 points!"

T appeared, and with two Unowns now on the field, its attack points rose from 1200 to 1600, enough to destroy Kabuto, while R rose to 1400.

"Now, T, attack Large Kabuto! Hidden Power!" commanded Finn, and several balls materialised around it, before flying at Kabuto, who exploded. Chronos growled in anger as his Life Points fell by 100.

**Chronos: 3900**

**Finn: 4000**

"Now R, it's your turn! Attack the Prof directly!"

"You will address me as Professor!" screamed Chronos. "And your attack won't work! You fell right into my trap, literally! I activate Cinnabar Lab. Using this trap card, I can special summon one Ancient pokemon from my deck, at the low cost of 1000 Life Points!

**Chronos: 2900**

**Finn: 4000**

"Come forth, Armaldo!"

A machine rose from the ground, and a conveyor belt on the side began to whir. Off the end came the large fossil bug, with 2200 attack points.

Finn gasped. It was too late to stop his attack, and the Hidden Power rebounded off Armaldo and hit R, destroying it.

**Chronos: 2900**

**Finn: 3200**

"Unown R!" gasped Finn. "Damn."

Since R was destroyed, T's attack points lowered back down to 1400, making Finn's chances of winning even worse.

"Well, I guess I'll just finish with two face-downs. Your turn, Prof!"

Chronos went beetroot-red.

"You little punk! Don't you have any manners at all?"

"Sometimes," laughed Finn. Despite the fact that Armaldo was on the field, he seemed to be having great fun.

Chronos growled, and drew a card, bringing his hand to five.

"Nothing really useful here," he muttered under his breath. "Alright, Armaldo! Attack his Unown T! You're about to lose a whole load of Life Points, brat!"

Finn wasn't that fussed. "I don't think so," he said. Armaldo swung a claw at T, who was destroyed, but Finn's Life Points didn't lower one point.

"What?" whined Chronos. "Why didn't you lose Life Points?"

Finn laughed. "That's T's special ability. When it's attacked, it can switch to Defence Mode!"

"Oh well, it was still destroyed! Now you're defenceless," jeered Chronos. "I'll end with another face-down card."

"And I'll activate one of mine!" interrupted Finn, and one of his face-down cards rose up to reveal a trap. "It's called Unown Revival! With this I can bring back my Unown R, straight from the graveyard."

R appeared again, and blinked at Chronos with its single eye.

"And it's not over yet! Remember R's special ability? I can choose one card from my hand and summon it to the field. And I choose Unown F!"

An Unown in the shape of the letter F appeared.

"And _its _ability now activates!" said Finn. "I can choose any Unown that's five-stars or more from my deck and summon it to the field! So say hello to Unown P!"

With three Unowns on the field, each one gained 600 attack points, bringing R to 1600, F to 1400 and P to 2300.

"And guess what else?" asked Finn. "It's my turn, so I draw!"

He swiped a card out of his Duel Disk, adding it to the other one in his hand.

"Alright, perfect! I activate one of my favourite spell cards, Tongue of the Lickilicky, letting me draw two cards."

A pink pokemon with a huge gut appeared, and poked out an enormous tongue. Finn drew two cards.

"Unown P, attack Armaldo!"

P used Hidden Power, and Armaldo blew up in a cloud of smoke. Chronos grumbled as the smoke poured all over him.

**Chronos: 2800**

**Finn: 3200**

"Now, F and R can attack you directly, bringing your points to 0!" declared Finn, and the Unown began to charge up their attacks.

"Oh, no you don't!" screeched Chronos. "I'm going to activate my face-down trap, Direction Protection! All damage from direct attacks is cancelled out for this turn!"

Finn cursed, as the attacks landed, but did nothing. "You're doing pretty well for a professional, eh? Well, I'll finish off with putting two of my three cards face-down."

"My draw!" shouted Chronos. "And what a perfect draw it is! I'll use Tongue of the Lickilicky. That's right, slacker! I have one as well!"

"_Damn," _thought Finn. "_He keeps on replenishing his hand!"_

Chronos' eyes widened in delight when he saw the two cards had drawn.

"I'm afraid it's all over for you! Say bye-bye to the Academy!"

"Just make your move, Prof."

Chronos' eyes twitched in anger. "Fine! You want to be beaten quicker? Make my day! I activate this spell card, Fossil Excavation!"

"And what does that do?"

"It can special summon two cards two fossil pokemon directly from the graveyard. They can only stick around for one turn, but I'll won't need them for long, because I'll sacrifice both of them to summon this: The Prehistoric Claydol of the Relic!"

Finn gasped as Large Kabuto and Armaldo reappeared, only to return to the graveyard to make room for Chronos' newest monster. It was a Claydol, but bigger than any other Claydol Finn had ever seen. It was at least twenty metres tall. From all around the stadium came gasps as the Claydol stretched to full height. Finn grimaced at its mighty 3000 attack points.

"_Not good."_

"Claydol, attack his Unown P!" screamed Chronos, and the giant clay behemoth swung one of its floating arms down, crushing P into the dust.

**Chronos: 2800**

**Finn: 2500**

"Oh no, I'm losing! And how am I ever going to beat that thing?" whispered Finn. Suddenly, a small shape pooped up in front of him. It was his Pokemon Spirit, Unown A.

"You think I can do it?" he asked it. Unown A bobbed up and down furiously. Finn's confidence returned. "Then I can do it!"

Meanwhile, Chronos was looking at Finn like he was insane. Through his eyes, Finn was asking empty space whether he could win or not.

"Well...I'll end my turn with another face-down, then," he said, still staring at the boy strangely.

"Let's do this, Prof!" declared Finn, and he drew a card. "And I'll summon Unown A!"

"_Thanks, A," _he thought. "But, I'm going to have to say goodbye to him, because I have to sacrifice A to activate this card, Unown ABC, to special summon B and C from my deck. Sorry, buddy."

Unown A shattered into a hundred shards of light, but then Unown B and C appeared where it had been, joining R and F. Unown B, C and R all had 1800 attack points, while F had 1600.

"That's still nowhere near enough to defeat my Claydol!" taunted Chronos, but Finn didn't listen.

"Your turn, Prof."

"Fine, and it'll be one of the last! Claydol, attack!"

Claydol swung its arm at Unown F, but Finn cut across it.

"You fell in to my trap, Unown Saviour! With this, I can summon Unown S from my deck to absorb the attack for F."

An Unown in the shape of an S was summoned, and hovered in front of F, taking the hit for it, and was destroyed.

"And now to use Unown S' effect. When it's sent to the graveyard, I can summon another Unown straight from my deck to the field! So come on down, Unown M, with a raised total of 2200 points!"

"Curse these Unowns!" grumbled Chronos, as each of Finn's pokemon gained another 200 points each. "I end my turn. I'll just kill you next time."

"There won't be a next turn, not for you anyway!" grinned Finn, as he drew a card. "Now for the Grand Finale! I sacrifice Unown F and Unown C to summon the incredible, unstoppable...Crystal Entei!"

There was an explosion of light, and a portal opened up. Out of the portal leaped a massive dog-like creature. It had large flat paws, and what looked like a cloud on its back. Another loud gasp rang out in the crowd watching the exams in the grandstands.

"And get this; Entei has 2500 attack points...to begin with," said Finn slyly.

"What do mean, 'to begin with'?" whimpered Chronos, feeling an unpleasant surge of panic well up inside him.

"Well, like the Unowns, Crystal Entei gains 200 attack points for every Unown on the field. F and C are gone, but I still have B, M, and R, giving Entei 600 more points...bringing it to a grand total of 3100!"

"What? Time out!" shrieked Chronos, but it was too late. Finn raised an arm and pointed directly at Claydol.

"Entei, fetch!"

Entei gave an almighty roar, and bounced forwards, running closer to Claydol with every passing second.

"It's not over yet!" intervened Chronos just in time. "I still have one face-down card! I activate the trap, Detect! Now your attack is stopped."

A Meditite appeared, and its eyes glowed green.

"It would be," smirked Finn. "If I didn't play this! Counter!"

Entei jumped on top of the Meditite's head, destroying it, and continued on its way towards Claydol. Chronos let out an obnoxious wail, as Entei hit Claydol with a ball of shadow. Entei bounced of Claydol's crumbling body, leaping high into the air and landing on all four feet in front of Finn. Meanwhile, Claydol cracked, and exploded into dust, all of which fell straight on top of Chronos, burying him in the suffocating pile of dirt.

"Good work, Entei," complimented Finn. He looked across the floor to where Chronos was climbing out of the pile, covered in dirt. His clothes were all ruined, and his hair had been blown around. The Professor looked a right mess.

**Chronos: 2700**

**Finn: 2500**

"Now, let's finish this duel," suggested Finn. "When I sacrificed my F and C, the other Unown lost a few points, but they're still enough to bring you to 0. Now, go B, M and R! Attack Chronos directly!"

Chronos had only just managed to climb to his feet again, and looked up just in time to be hit by several Hidden Powers. He fell like a sack of potatoes.

**Chronos: 0**

**Finn: 2500**

"Well Prof, you did well. But not good enough, haha!" laughed Finn. "Looks like I'm in the academy now, huh?"

Chronos, with great effort, stood up.

"You brat," he hissed through his teeth, as the Proctor entered their area and congratulated Finn. "I'll get you for this. We'll see who's laughing...when we're at the academy!"

The Proctor shook Finn's hand, and took back the practice Duel Disc.

"Incredible duelling," he said. "I thought you were a goner, to be honest."

"Remember my name," said the boy. "Finn Jackson, the Unown Extraordinaire!"

The Proctor led the way back the arena. As he left the stadium, he was tapped on the back by the tall boy with the black hair that had played the Milotic earlier on.

"Nice duelling," said the boy. "You're good. That Entei is strong."

"Thanks," said Finn. "My name's Finn, by the way."

"I'm Taine," said the boy. "Taine Parker."

"Well, I'd better be going," said Finn. "I'll see you at Duel Academy."

"Yeah," answered Taine. "And I'll be looking forwards to duelling you sometime."

Finn grinned and walked away. As he walked, Unown A popped out of his deck and floated up to his face, blinking happily.

"We did good, A. We did good."

**000**

**Animaster: Well, that's one chapter down. A lot better than my old Yugimon story, I think. I hope you all enjoyed it, I sure did.**

**Hotrod: Yup it was definitely a good duel. Btw, Finn is owned by Animaster. If you're wondering why it's a two parter, we have the second main character introduced next chapter. It takes place the same time this chapter took place. And it's written by yours truly. **

**Until next time,**

**See ya!**

**Hotrod & Animaster**


	2. The Trials: Part 2

**Yugimon**

**Legendary Crusaders**

**Hotrod: Well here is the second chapter, written by me. It's not as long as the previous chapter but it still gets the point across. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!**

**Animaster: Yeah, the last chapter was written by me. We're writing chapters depending on the duel in the chapter, and then the other one edits it. Anyway, enough business, on with the story!**

**000**

Episode 2

The Trials Part 2

A brown haired boy looked at the large dome building in front of him. He kept thinking to himself on what's behind those two doors.

"I need to do this…" he said to himself. "If not for me… for my mum to be proud of me…" The boy approached the two large doors and opened them.

The brown haired boy looked around the large stadium, amazed at what he saw. People everywhere were duelling Yugimon. He pulled his shirt around, adjusting a bit and began to walk. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. He looked quickly through them, proud of his selected cards.

"It's time guys…" he said. Suddenly, a ghostly spirit of an orange monkey with a fire on its butt appeared on his head. "And I'll do it if my name's not Cole Harding!"

"You're Cole Harding?" a voice asked. A man stood there. He had a white beard and moustache, black glasses and wore a lab coat. Cole nodded in reply. "My name is Blaine and I'm a Professor at Duel Academy. If you would follow me to the arena, I'll hand you your Training Duel Disc and then the Duel can start." Cole followed the old man pass several groups of people, accidentally bumping into a kid with black spiky hair.

"Sorry!" Cole called out. The boy nodded in approval and Cole continued following the man. Blaine had stopped walking and Cole stood alongside him, looking in the same direction as Blaine. They were at a Duel Field, but it was taken. Two people were duelling already. One was wearing a blue jacket, and the other was wearing casual clothes that consisted of jeans, a white shirt and a black long sleeve shirt on under that. He also wore a pair of sunglasses despite being inside. The boy with casual clothes had several cards out on the field while his opponent had a single card: a huge whale like monster.

"Now Wailord, Titan of the Seven Seas, attack his life points directly!" The creature opened its mouth and a huge blast of water rocketed towards the kid. However, he just smiled.

"Sorry but I activate Light Screen!" the kid said. "It reflects your attack back at you and destroys your monster while also doing the same amount of damage to you as it would've done for me! Therefore I win!" The blast of water hit the yellow barrier which appeared and it reflected back towards the creature. The Wailord exploded in a bright light which also consumed the man in blue. A small hologram box appeared, showing the blue clad uniform man's life point's drop to zero.

"That was a good tactic, Axel." the man said, walking over to the boy. "Congratulations. You will be given a uniform at reception, and you will then leave for the Duel Train."

"Thanks," Axel said smirking. "You just can't stop the best." As soon as the two had left, Blaine directed Cole onto the field.

"This will be just a normal duel," Blaine said, handing Cole a Duel Disc. It was just a basic red and blue one. However, when Blaine took his out, it was revealed to be a silver one with a blue orb where the machine's brain was.

"Nice Duel Disc!" Cole called out. Blaine smiled.

"It's an academy disc. You'll get one too if you manage to defeat me," Blaine said. "But now, we begin!"

"Let's Duel!" they both said in unison, putting their decks into the Duel Disc. The Duel Discs activated with a slight whirr.

**Cole: 4000**

**Blaine: 4000**

"I'll go first," Blaine said. He drew a card from his deck and glanced at it. "And I'll start by summoning Slugma in attack mode!" The red lava slug appeared, a holographic box appearing next to it showing it had 1200 attack points. "That'll do for now…" Blaine said.

Cole drew from his deck and glanced at the card. "Sweet…" Cole said to himself. "I summon Meditite in attack mode!" Cole shouted, placing the card on the field, a holographic box showing it had 1000 attack points. "I then activate the equip card Meditate, which only works on fighting type monsters! This card increases a Fighting type's attack points by 500! Just enough to destroy Slugma! Go Meditite, Confusion!" Meditite's eyes glowed blue and Slugma exploded in white light.

**Cole: 4000**

**Blaine: 3700**

"Good work," Blaine said. He drew a card from his deck and smiled. "But not good enough! I now activate Revive to bring back my Slugma from the graveyard!" Suddenly, Slugma reappeared smiling. "I then activate the spell card Evolution Overdrive which allows me to sacrifice my Slugma in order to summon Magcargo from my hand or deck!" Suddenly, Slugma started to glow and it changed form, becoming bigger and having a shell on its back. A holographic box showed its attack points were now 2400. "Now Magcargo, destroy his Meditite now! Overheat!" Magcargo fired a blast of fire at Meditite, destroying the creature.

"No, Meditite!" Cole shouted out, hoping for a miracle.

**Cole: 3100**

**Blaine: 3700**

"Damn it…" Cole muttered, looking at his hand. He drew his next card and suddenly smiled, giving a slight chuckle. "First, I'll summon Chimchar in attack mode," Cole placed the card on his Duel Disc. Chimchar appeared in a flash of light and danced around happily. "I then activate Tongue of the Lickilicky which allows me to draw two more cards from my deck." The purplish pink creature appeared. Its tongue poked out and two cards appeared on the tongue. Cole took the cards and placed them into his hand. Looking at the new cards, he began to feel lucky.

"What's so funny?" Blaine asked as Cole chuckled again.

"This! I now activate Maximum Evolution Overdrive! This allows me to evolve my Chimchar two stages!" Chimchar started to glow. It soon changed into a creature with a large flame on its head. The creature roared loudly and Cole smiled. A holographic box appeared next to the creature. Its attack points were identified as 2800.

"Now Infernape, destroy his Magcargo!" Infernape ran at Magcargo and punched the Pokémon with a fire covered fist. Magcargo was then destroyed in a flash of light. Blaine groaned as more life points were taken away.

**Cole: 3100**

**Blaine: 3300**

"My turn," Blaine said, drawing yet another card. Looking at it, it was Blaine's turn to chuckle now.

"I now activate the Spell Card, Rise of the Inferno. With all fire type monsters in my graveyard, I can summon a creature from my deck with equal to or less stars then the creatures combined! Since Slugma was a three start creature and Magcargo was five, that gives me eight stars total!" Cole had a look of shock on his face.

"But that means…!" Cole stammered. Blaine smiled.

"I can summon one of the strongest cards in my deck! Now come forth, Magmortar, the King of Lava!" The huge red creature appeared with a roar. A holographic box appeared next to Magmortar, revealing it had 3400 attack points. "Now Magmortar, obliterate his Infernape!" The Magmortar aimed its arms at Infernape and fired two large fireballs at the creature. Infernape exploded into millions of pieces, with Cole's life points dropping again.

"I'll place one more card face down and end my turn…" Blaine said, smirking.

**Cole: 2500**

**Blaine: 3300 **

"Infernape…" Cole muttered, looking at his hand. He had no cards which even in a combo, wouldn't be able to stop the Magmortar.

"I'll put one card in defence mode and one card face down…" Cole said, placing the cards on the Duel Disc. "I end my turn…"

Blaine smiled, knowing a win was soon to come. It was a shame that the boy would be denied entry, but the Duel Academy was no picnic.

"Now that it's my turn, I'll now summon Growlithe in attack mode." Blaine said summoning the dog like creature; the hologram box appeared once again, revealing it had 1400 attack points. "Now Growlithe, attack his face down card!" Growlithe's mouth began to have fire erupt from it. The orange puppy ran over to the face down card. However, before the attack hit, an almost invisible shield appeared in front of the card and Cole. Cole stood there smiling.

"Sorry but I activated Protect! This negates your attack and forces you to end your turn!" Blaine grumbled as Cole went to draw his next card.

'I need a good card…" he muttered, hoping for a miracle. He braced himself as he picked the card up and looked at it. "Yes!" Cole yelled in happiness. He threw the card down on to the field. "By sacrificing my face down card, I use it to summon Poliwhirl!"

"What's so good about that?" Blaine asked. "It's only a five star card with 1800 attack…"

"I haven't ended my turn then. I now activate the spell card Water Stone! This allows me to evolve particular monsters if it can only evolve using this spell! So now, goodbye Poliwhirl and hello Poliwrath! The monster with 2800 attack points!" Poliwrath appeared, flexing its muscles.

"It's still not enough to destroy my Magmortar," Blaine said. "It's basic mathematics."

"Oh but I haven't finished yet," Cole said. "I now also activate the spell card Ability Scavenger! This allows me to draw one ability card from my deck! And I choose Torrent! Now, not only will I activate Torrent to build up Poliwrath's attack by 1000 attack points, I'll also use Guts which was in my hand to boost it again! That's an increase of 2000 attack points, for a total of 4800 points! I may lose the boost after next turn but it'll be worth it!" Blaine gasped as Poliwrath started to grow really big.

"Now Poliwrath, attack his Magmortar!" Poliwrath ran at Magmortar, its body surrounded by water. It collided with the fire creature, forcing it to explode.

**Cole: 2500**

**Blaine: 1900**

"Now Magmortar's ability activates! When he is destroyed, the amount of damage taken is also deal to the attacker! So you also lose 1400 attack points!"

**Cole: 1100**

**Blaine: 1900**

"Damn it!" Cole shouted as his life points dropped. "Well, I place one card down and end my turn…"

"Good," Blaine said, drawing another card. "Because I now activate the spell card Pain Split! When Pain Split is activated, I can sacrifice half of one monster's attack points on my field as damage to your life points. I also then gain that damage as life points."

**Cole: 400**

**Blaine: 2600**

"I will now also place one card face down and summon a Vulpix to the field and end my turn." Blaine said as the red fox appeared. The box reappeared again once more showing the Vulpix had 1200 attack.

Cole sighed as he drew his next card. He was sweating like crazy, unsure if he was going to win or not. This was getting dangerous. "Okay, I now summon Machop in attack mode! With 1600 attack points I'll definitely be able to win! Now Poliwrath, attack his Growlithe! Hydro Pump!" Poliwrath fired a giant blast of water at Growlithe. However, something started to happen as both Growlithe and Vulpix started to glow.

"You've triggered my trap card Cole," Blaine said. The face down card from Blaine's last turn flipped up. "I activated Unstable Chemistry. This card allows me to fuse two monsters on my field to summon a stronger monster to my hand. And now I summon Moltres, Overlord of Flames!" Suddenly, a huge fire tornado appeared on the field, heading straight to the roof of the arena. Two black eyes suddenly appeared in the fire and it took the shape of a large yellow bird with flames erupting from its head and wings. All round the arena, spectators stared, all looking in awe at the huge beast, glaring down at the battle around it.

"You've forced me to use my best card Cole," Blaine said. "If you manage to defeat Moltres then I'll forfeit the match."

Cole shook his head. "That only happens if you get 0 life points." Suddenly, he saw Moltres' attack points. "4000!" Cole exclaimed, wondering how he was ever going to be that.

"Now Moltres, destroy his Poliwrath! Sky Inferno!" Several large blasts of fire erupted from Moltres' wings, aimed right at Poliwrath.

"Sorry but I activate the continuous trap card, Pokéball," interrupted Cole. "When this trap is activated, I can remove one Pokémon once on each person's turn. Though when the ability is activated, whoever's turn it is, their turn is immediately ended. Blaine grumbled as Poliwrath disappeared into the Pokéball, Moltres' fire attack missing. Poliwrath then reappeared from the Pokéball and flexed its muscles.

Cole drew his next card. "I now activate yet another Tongue of Lickilicky. So that's another two cards." Cole looked at his hand now. With only four cards, he needed to think of a strategy to win. However, the pressure was starting to get to him.

'Even if I activate Evolution Overload and use it on Machop, the Machoke still won't have enough attack points…' Cole thought to himself. 'But the Pokeball ability will keep him from hitting me...'

"I activate Evolution Overload, allowing me to evolve my Machop into Machoke." Machop glowed white as it soon changed into its larger self. "And I'll then end my turn…"

"Well now," Blaine said, drawing a card. Looking at it he smiled. "Looks like I'll need to activate my spell card, Feint. This allows me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field, taking away half your life points. I must also forfeit the rest of my turn afterwards. But now next turn, you won't be able to save your Machoke or your Poliwrath."

**Cole: 200**

**Blaine: 2600**

"Damn it…" Cole muttered as his life points dropped even lower. Cole then went to draw his next card. This turn all relied on whatever card he picked up. He drew the card and looked at it. Suddenly, a huge smile came up on his face. "It's time for a win!"

"How?" Blaine asked, slightly curious.

"I now activate the spell card, Switch Out, allowing me to swap two monster cards on my field with one monster in my deck by paying half my life points!"

**Cole: 100**

**Blaine: 2600**

"So I choose to summon Machamp in attack mode!" Cole shouted. Machoke and Poliwrath were destroyed and in its place was a huge four armed bulk of a creature.

"How is it meant to destroy Moltres? It only has 3200 attack!" Blaine said, looking at the holographic box.

"Oh but I haven't finished! Now for every fighting type monster in my graveyard, Machamp gains a bonus 300 attack points! Now if my maths is correct, that should bring Machamp's attack points up to 5000!" Machamp suddenly became huge, his muscles expanding to abnormal size. "And now due to Machamp's over ability, he must attack all monsters on the field before a proper attack can be announced!"

"Wait, hold up!" Blaine said, starting to sweat like crazy, moustache drooping sadly.

"What's wrong, old timer?" Cole asked smirking. "Did the heat get to you? Machamp! Finish off his Moltres!" Machamp ran at the large inferno bird and slammed its fists into the creature's chest. Blaine felt the impact of Machamp destroying Moltres as his life points dropped by 1000

**Cole: 100**

**Blaine: 1600**

"And now finish this, Machamp! Attack his life points directly!" Machamp ran at the old man and uppercut him, causing Blaine to fall to the ground.

**Cole: 100**

**Blaine: 0**

"And that's game!" Cole said as the holograms all disappeared. Cole grabbed Machamp's card and silently thanked the creature. Blaine sighed as he returned his deck to a slot in his lab coat.

"Excellent job Cole," he said, moving across the field. He held out his hand. Cole took it and shook his hand, all the while smiling. "You are an incredible duelist. Only a few people in history have ever defeated my Moltres. You will do at Duel Academy."

"Thanks Professor!" Cole said. As Cole started to leave, the boy known as Axel watched Cole, glaring at him.

"How that little punk could beat Blaine is unthinkable! Even I would've had a hard time beating his Moltres!" Axel spat, disgusted by how Cole had won. "When we meet at Duel Academy, Cole… we will duel and I'll show you who the better Duelist is!" Axel chuckled as he left the seat.

As Blaine left to fill out some papers, Chimchar suddenly appeared on top of Cole's head.

"Chim!" the monkey said happily. Cole smiled.

"You did great Chimchar," Cole said. Chimchar then disappeared as Blaine returned with a briefcase, containing Cole's items.

"I'll see you at Duel Academy, Mr Harding." Blaine said as he turned and walked off. Cole smiled. It was time to go to Duel Academy.

**000**

**Hotrod: Well that's another chapter down. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the Duel. Anyone else thought Cole ****might ****have actually lost? Meh it was close… anyways, hope you guys stick around for the third chapter!**

**Animaster: It might not have been as long as the last chapter, but it sure made up for it with the suspense. Next time, Finn and Cole arrive at Duel Academy in Celadon City, but when they are placed in the same dorm, will they be friends...or enemies? Find out next time, on Yu-Gi-Mon GX!**


	3. Friends of Rivalry

**Yu-Gi-Mon**

**Legendary Crusaders**

**Animaster: Yo, we're back! Time for third chapter! This one's by me. Now, last time, Finn and Cole participated in their entry exams for Duel Academy, and both managed to defeat their opponents. But now that they're in, will they form a friendship, or become enemies?**

**Hotrod: Yup this is gonna be one battle packed episode! So enjoy!**

**000**

Episode 3

Friends of Rivalry

It was late at night in Celadon City, but at Duel Academy, five people were still debating business amongst themselves. Located in the middle of the city, Duel Academy was a large site, built on a three kilometre squared patch of land, complete with trees, grass, the dorms, and the main building. On the top floor of the main building was the head office of none other than the renowned Professor Samuel Oak, the Chancellor or Principal of the Academy.

The Chancellor himself was in the office now, sitting behind a large desk made of oak wood, to suit his name. On the desk was a computer, pens, and a sheet of paper that he was going down, ticking off names. Also in the room were four others. A tall skinny bald man with a white moustache and lab coat named Blaine was standing next to an incredibly large man with huge muscles, wearing an army shirt. This man was known as Lieutenant Surge.

Sitting in a chair near Oak's desk was a fourth man, though an incredibly feminine one. He had a large blue coat, and was wearing purple lipstick, as well as long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. It was so long that it reached down to his waist. Waylon Chronos was generally dislike by the other professors, but was still a respected member of the school, although he had received a number of warnings for bad conduct.

The fifth person was a woman. She had on a black and purple, tight-fitting dress, and purple high heels. Topping her head was flaming red hair, and she wore large-framed glasses. Her name was Lorelei. She was leaning against the wall; arms folded, with her head bowed and eyes closed.

Chronos was speaking. "Axel will do well in Articuno Blue, right Lorelei?"

"I'm sure he will, Waylon," replied the red-head. She seemed rather bored.

Oak ran his finger down the list. "Now, where were we?" he muttered absent-mindedly. "Oh yes!" Grabbing a pen, he placed a small letter A next to the name Axel Goldberg on his list, and then directed his gaze to the next entry on the list.

"What about this Cole Harding?"

Surge grinned wildly. "Ah, he did well on his written test, and even dampened Blaine's fire in his duel. Definitely a Zapdos Yellow candidate, I think."

"Not so fast," said Blaine, raising a finger. "I want to monitor this boy myself. He really has something. Let's put him in Moltres Red for now."

"What?" chuckled Surge. "Are you kidding me? The kid's easily good enough to be a Zapdos, no need to put him in the lowest dorm when he doesn't have to be."

"I sense something in him," said Blaine. "I want to teach Cole personally, see where he gets his motivation from. I can't do that if he's in your dorm, Surge."

"Now, now, you two!" warned Professor Oak. "Save your squabbles for when it counts. I also think that Blaine should look after Cole. After all, you have the most experience out of all us."

Blaine smiled triumphantly at Surge, who gave a curt nod. "Fine, but with his skill he'll advance to Yellow before the year is out!"

"Well, that's that one done," sighed Oak. "One more to go, then we can knock off. Oh my, it's almost eleven o'clock! Let's finish this quickly." He looked at his list, recording a small letter M next to Cole Harding's name as he did so, and read out the next, and final, person on the sheet. "Finn Jackson, what did we make of him? Say, wasn't he that boy that defeated you, Waylon?"

Chronos bristled angrily. "That brat!"

"He's a Yellow as well. He's got a good head and a sharp mind," said Surge, and Blaine nodded in acceptance. Chronos stood up sharply, knocking his chair over backwards as he did so.

"Absolutely not!" he screeched. "That slacker humiliated me in front of the whole congregation!"

Lorelei spoke again, raising her head and opening her eyes.

"You humiliated _yourself, _Waylon," she said wearily. "If you hadn't insisted on duelling the kid for a tiny interruption he made, then you wouldn't have lost so badly to him. It was your own fault."

"_It was not!"_

"Was so," smirked Blaine.

"Shut up, Blaine. If this slacker _has _to be here at the Academy, then he's starting from the bottom! Put him in with the Moltres Morons!"

Blaine stepped forwards angrily. He and Chronos had an old rivalry. "My dorm is not full of morons, Chronos. In fact, the only moron in the entire Academy is you."

Chronos turned bright red, but before he could retaliate, Oak interfered.

"Pack it in, you two! Blaine, would you mind accepting the boy in your dorm, for the sake of ending this argument?"

Blaine nodded. "I'd love to. And you know?" he added, looking at Chronos. "I can't wait to see him advance _all the way to Articuno Blue!"_

"Blaine!" said Oak sharply. "Stop that, before Waylon challenges you to a duel. I think he's getting pretty close."

And the Chancellor wasn't wrong. Chronos was seething; his teeth were bared and sweat was pouring down his face. Blaine smirked. "Don't get your duel coat in a double knot, _Waylon."_

"Well, that's settled then," said Oak. "Finn goes in Moltres Red." He picked up his pen for the final time and placed another M next to Finn's name, below Cole's. "Those two can go in the same dorm room," he murmured to himself, and added a double-headed arrow next to the names, pointing to each other. Sighing again, he stood up. "Alright, gentlemen, Lorelei. Let's all go home. We've all got a big day tomorrow."

**000**

Cole grunted as he dragged his massive suitcase along the large dirt path to his dorm. To make it worse, the sun was beating down heavily on the back of his unprotected neck. To his relief, Cole saw the dorm he was to stay in was near. It was two-storeys, with a small wooden staircase leading to the second floor. As far as dorms go, it was moderately sized, though looked a little run down. The red roof was a nice touch though.

Upon entering the Duel Academy, they had been handed a package and an envelope. Inside were instructions of where to go from there and what dorm they were in. Also in the package were three jackets. All of them were identical, red with long sleeves. Cole had slipped one of them on immediately, and followed the instructions to go to his dorm and unpack. After an hour, enough time to settle in, the students were to head to the main building for further orientation.

Cole pulled out the envelope again as he reached the front of the dorm, and looked at his room number. Scanning the lower floors and not seeing room 8, he realised with a sinking feeling that his room was upstairs, and began the arduous journey of dragging the massive suitcase up the staircase.

Five minutes later, Cole opened his door. It was devoid of people, though he apparently had room-mates, as there was a triple bunk-bed, three desks, three wardrobes, and what a surprise, three chairs.

Cole turned around as he heard a voice behind him. "Nice room, eh? We must be room-mates. The name's Finn."

It was a boy with spiky black hair. As Cole looked at him, he recognised his new room-mate as the kid that he had accidently bumped into at the trials, on the way to his duel. Finn also seemed to have remembered Cole.

"I'm Cole," he said. "No luggage?"

"Why bother?" answered Finn. "There are already new clothes for us in the wardrobes."

"Oh," said Cole, staring at the heavy case he had dragged all the way to Duel Academy, and felt rather silly. An awkward silence settled over them as they suddenly realised what had to be decided.

Finn stared at Cole, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, completely certain that the other boy was thinking exactly what he was thinking. Cole stared back, also sizing up his opponent.

"I call top bunk!" they both yelled at the same time. Finn was the quicker, he bounded forwards and tried to zip up the ladder and claim the prized position for himself, but Cole wrapped his arms around Finn's waist and bundled him to the floor, before trying to get up the ladder himself. Finn, not about to give Cole the satisfaction, reached up and seized his ankle, yanking him back down. Cole fell right on top of Finn, his elbow colliding painfully against one of the desks.

At the feeling of pain, Cole rolled over onto his knees on top of Finn and laced his fingers around his throat, shaking him. Finn responded by pounding Cole's stomach repeatedly, gurgling through the vice on his windpipe.

Suddenly, the door crashed open, and an old man walked in. Neither boy noticed or cared. Blaine stepped forwards, and though undoubtedly on the wrong side of 65, he effortlessly dragged Cole off Finn and slammed him down onto the floor.

"What the _hell _are you hooligans doing?" he bellowed. "You're both 15 years old, get a hold of yourselves!"

Cole stumbled to his feet, and Finn mirrored his actions.

"Professor Blaine, sir," said Cole breathlessly. "I got here first, and called dibs on the top bunk."

"What a load of bull!" cut in Finn furiously. "_I _called it first, and you know it!"

"Yeah, right! I finished my sentence at least half a second before you did!"

At this point, Blaine completely lost interest, and stared at the opposite wall with a bland expression. Finally, the shouting stopped, and both boys looked at him expectantly.

Blaine looked at them each very carefully, and both of them withered under his gaze.

"It's settled," he said, and turned to leave. "Neither of you get the top bunk." And then he closed the door behind him.

"But...what?" gasped Finn at the door. Cole turned to him, outraged.

"This whole thing is your fault!"

"_Me? _How exactly is this _my _fault? If you hadn't of grabbed me, I'd be up there right now, having the time of my life!"

"Why you? It should be _me _up there, having the time of _my _life."

Outside, Blaine stopped as he heard another loud, though not altogether unexpected crash from the room he had just vacated. Giving a large, exaggerated sigh, he turned and opened the door to see the exact same scene that he had just broken up. This time, Finn heard the door opened, and ceased his punching to give Blaine a large, unconvincing smile of innocence. Cole also stood up quickly, brushing himself off, and acted casual.

As Blaine looked at them, he almost smiled. The old man wasn't angry, in fact, he was rather amused. The two boys fighting reminded him of when he was a teenager.

"Fortunately for you two, there is one way to solve this little problem of ours."

**000**

"Ok...Finn, Cole...you know the rules. Let the duel begin!"

Finn opened his deck case hanging from his belt, pulled out his deck and slotted it into his Academy Duel Disk so smoothly it was obvious that he had practised the move hundreds of times before. The second his cards entered the Disc, the blue orb on top of it flashed, and the arms of the card slot extended out. Twenty metres away, Cole mirrored his movements, perhaps even more fluently.

They were duelling in front of the Red dorm. It was a big open space clearly designed for duels, and surrounding it, except for the path leading in different directions, were shrubs and trees. Blaine himself stood up on the balcony, watching them.

Before the match, Blaine had flipped a coin, and Finn was to go first. The boy wasted no time, drawing his initial five cards, and then another, to begin his turn.

**Finn: 4000**

**Cole: 4000**

"Hmm...Perfect. Let's start this off with my spell card, Unown Swarm! With this, I can add two Unown straight from my deck to my hand. And I choose Unown L and Unown N! After that, I'll summon L to the field."

A funny looking black creature in the shape of the letter L appeared in front of him. Cole grimaced.

"It's you. Everybody at the trials was talking about the "Unown kid". You beat Professor Chronos, didn't you?"

Finn grinned. "Yep, that's right. I toasted the Prof. And if you've heard of me, then you'll know that my pokemon are unstoppable in battle."

"We'll see about that. Now get on with your turn."

"Rightio! That bunk is mine. Every Unown gains 200 attack and defence points for each Unown on the field, including itself. So L's attack points shoot from 1000 to 1200. And I'm not done yet! Now I activate this spell card, Unown Force. Now L gets another 500 attack points!"

"Crap," muttered Cole, as Unown L's attack rose to 1700. "He's got a strong monster on the field already. I've got no monsters in my hand that can beat that Unown, so I'd better go on the defence."

"But I'm not done yet," announced Finn. Now L's special ability activates, giving me 500 Life Points every turn. Now for a face-down, and now it's your turn."

**Finn: 4500**

**Cole: 4000**

Cole drew his card, and after adding it to the others, placed another one sideways on his Duel Disc.

"I summon Mankey, in defence mode!" he declared. "And now I activate Tongue of the Lickilicky, so I can draw two more cards from my deck. And I'll activate one of them now! Evolution Stone! Mankey, evolve!"

Finn gasped as Mankey glowed white and grew larger, until a Primeape was in its place. The small holographic box next to it showed off its 2600 attack points.

"No way!" gasped Finn. "A monster that strong already?"

"Primeape, attack!"

"Ha! You activated my trap! Unown Saviour! Now I can summon Unown S from my deck in defence mode to save L from Primeape's attack!" said Finn. Primeape swung its fist, but suddenly the shape on an Unown S blocked it. S exploded.

"And now you activated its special effect," said Finn. "By destroying S, I can summon any Unown from my deck. So come on out, Unown I!"

Primeape fell back to its place in front of Cole, who watched, annoyed, as Finn summoned yet another Unown to his field. L's attack points rose again to 1900, and I's original 2200 points rose to 2600...equal to Primeape.

"How's that for strategy?" smirked Finn. Cole grimaced. His opponent was dominating him.

"I place these two face-downs and end my turn," he grumbled.

Finn grinned again. "My draw! Now I activate my own Tongue of the Lickilicky. Two cards for me. Next, I'll activate Unown I's ability. By destroying itself, I can wipe out half of your Life Points!"

"That's not fair!" gasped Cole, as Unown I exploded.

**Finn: 4500**

**Cole: 2000**

"_This isn't looking good..." _Cole thought. "_He's just as good as they all said he was!"_

"Remember Unown Swarm? I hope you do, because I'm summoning the second Unown that I added to my hand...N, in defence mode! And when it's summoned, I can add a spell or trap card from my graveyard to my hand. So I'll get Tongue of the Lickilicky back, which I'll use again to get two more cards!"

N appeared, with a raised total of 1200 defence points. L had briefly dropped to 1700 after Unown I had been destroyed, but now shoomed back to 1900.

"To finish it off, I'll place two face-downs. And because L is on the field, I get another 500 Life Points. Good luck!"

**Finn: 5000**

**Cole: 2000**

Cole was sweating. Finn was using his cards like they were part of him. _There has to be a way to stop him from using all of those Unowns! I'll just have to use brute force."_

"I summon Machop, in attack mode! Machop, attack Unown N!"

Machop didn't hesitate, violently Karate chopping N straight to the graveyard. With 1600 attack points, it obliterated the measly 1200 defence points that N had.

"Now, Primeape, attack L!"

Finn sucked in air as Primeape destroyed Unown L. _"Whoops, I should have set up some kind of defence for my monsters..."_

Since N had gone, L only had 1700 attack points, and fell easily to Primeape.

**Finn: 4100**

**Cole: 2000**

"Now you've got no Unowns left," jeered Cole. "I end my turn."

Finn looked at his cards. He had two face-downs, but neither of them traps, both were spells. But one of them could almost win him this match. But first, a few summonings...

"I summon Unown F! When this is summoned, I can special summon one Unown from my deck to the field that's five stars! And I choose Unown P!"

Both monsters appeared, P on 2100 Life Points and F on 1200.

"But I'm not done yet! Now I activate my face-down spell card, Unown Destruction! By paying half of my Life Points, I can destroy every card on the field except for a single Unown. I choose to save P."

"Not good..." muttered Cole.

With two explosions, Primeape, Machop, and Unown F were destroyed. Both Finn's and Cole's face-down cards fizzled into dust, until the only thing left standing was Unown P, with 1900 attack points.

"P, attack him directly!"

Cole yelled as he was hit by Hidden Power, and fell to his knees.

**Finn: 2050**

**Cole: 100**

"_This seems to happen to me a lot,"_ thought Cole as he looked at his Life Points, and staggered back to his feet.

"My turn," he said. "First, I summon Torchic, in attack mode! Next, I activate Maximum Evolution Overdrive to evolve it to its final level, Blaziken!"

"_There ought to be a price for that card..." _thought Finn in fear, as Torchic disappeared and was replaced with its much more powerful evolution, which had a whopping 3300 attack points. _"It's way too good."_

"Blaziken, attack Unown P!"

Finn shouted out as P was destroyed in a fireball, and his Life Points dropped dramatically.

**Finn: 650**

**Cole: 100**

Finn stared in hopelessness at his empty field, and at the behemoth facing him.

"Now for a face-down," grinned Cole. "And I'll give you a hint...don't bother setting a trap or using a spell...it won't do you any good. Looks like this duel has turned around in my favour, huh?"

Finn panicked. By the sounds of it, Cole had a counter to spells and traps. What could he do? Without his usual zeal and confidence, he drew his card, and hope filled him again.

_This duel is done, Cole."_

"I summon Unown H, in attack mode, and then I'll end my turn."

"Ha!" laughed Cole as he looked at H's 800 attack points, which raised to 1000. "Given up? Well, I'll end this with a bang. First, I summon Chimchar, but he won't be staying for long, because now I'll use Switch Out, to send both Chimchar and Blaziken to the graveyard and halve my Life Points. Now, I can summon this...Machamp!"

**Finn: 650**

**Cole: 50**

Finn gasped as Cole's two pokemon vanished, to be replaced by a grey monster with four arms.

"And don't forget its special effect! For every fighting type in the graveyard, it gains 300 attack points onto its original 3200. You can't win, Finn! Hey, that rhymes. Anyway, let's count up the fighting types in my grave! Mankey, Primeape, Machop and Blaziken. That's another 1200 attack points, so now Machamp has 4400!"

Finn gulped.

"It's over! You have no spell or trap cards on the field, and your only defence is that single Unown. Let's end this! Machamp, attack his Unown H and win me this duel!" ordered Cole, and the buffed up Machamp stepped forwards, raising its fist. Finn's teeth were gritted, and he was covered in sweat.

"_This is gonna hurt..." _he thought, as Unown H disappeared in a colossal explosion. Finn was caught up in the blast, and was blocked from Cole's view by a wall of smoke. Cole watched, his tongue between his teeth, and slowly the smoke cleared.

Amazingly, Finn was still standing, but his head was drooped and his arms were hanging limp, smoke billowing out from the corners of his clothes. Cole punched the air triumphantly. "Yes! I win! That top bunk is mine."

He laughed, long and loud, but was struck dumb when Finn raised his head and spoke.

"Guess again. My Life Points may have hit 0, but I can still activate one last card!"

"You're lying," gasped Cole. "What card could you possibly use now?"

Finn held up his Duel Disk. "The one you just destroyed. Unown H!"

"B-but...it's in the graveyard!"

Finn smiled. "Exactly. By sending H to the graveyard, _you _activated its ability. When H is destroyed, I can use any trap card directly from my hand, and it can't be negated! And I choose this...Destiny Bond!"

"No, not that!" shouted Cole, panicking, as Finn selected the card from his hand and slotted it into his Duel Disk.

"As I'm sure you know, I can use Destiny Bond when one of my monsters is attacked and destroyed. First, I discard every other card in my hand. After that, the monster that attacked me goes straight to the graveyard, and the damage that I received from the attack is reflected..." Finn whipped up his finger and pointed directly at Cole. "Straight back to you!"

"This can't be happening!" yelled Cole frantically, as a ghost of Unown H reappeared in front of Finn, and began to glow.

Finn grinned. "It can and it is! This duel is over!"

Machamp glowed as well, and it clutched at its heart, then exploded. This time it was Cole who was enveloped by the explosion, and by the time the smoke disappeared, he was hunched over, exhausted.

**Finn: 0**

**Cole: 0**

Cole looked up from his kneeling pose to see Finn standing in front of him, holding out his arm. Cole took it, and Finn helped him up.

"You're a pretty good duelist," complimented Finn. "You can have the bunk. We were stupid to fight over it."

"Thanks," answered Cole. "Because we both know I called dibs on it first," he joked.

Finn grinned, and extended his hand again. "Friends?"

Cole accepted the hand, and they shook. "Definitely."

Blaine, still watching from the balcony, smiled.

"_Those two will make a good pair."_

From afar, a tall girl about the same age as Cole and Finn watched them. She was dressed in a blue and white skirt.

"Those two are good," she muttered. "What do you think?"

A tall older boy next to her, at least 18 years old with silver hair and a blue jacket, answered her.

"They'll do well here. Anyway, that's it for the tour. See you around, Vanessa. Good luck here at Duel Academy."

He turned and walked away. "Yeah..." said Vanessa quietly. "Thanks, Kaiser!"

The older boy, Kaiser, raised a hand in farewell, but didn't look back. Soon, Vanessa followed, heading back to the Articuno Blue dorm.

Meanwhile, Cole and Finn entered their room again.

"Thanks, Professor," they said in unison. As their door closed, Blaine chuckled.

"No problem," he laughed. "No problem at all."

**000**

**Animaster: So they're equally matched at duelling, eh? Good thing Blaine showed up, they would have torn each other apart. Those Unowns are confusing, aren't they? My personal invention. **

**Oh, by the way, don't forget to review, we love reviews. Onto Hotrod!**

**Hotrod: Yup I even got confused reading about the Unown… anyways Animaster should've apologised for not updating on Friday but oh well. It was New Years Eve… what were you supposed to do. Anyways please, please, please review! I know you guys added it to your faves! So come on! Spare one or two minutes for us!**


	4. Axel the Hot Head

**Yu-Gi-Mon**

**Legendary Crusaders**

**Animaster: OK, first things first. We are **_**very **_**sorry about the wait between chapters. Neither of us could quite get the motivation to finish it off, but don't worry, it's done now. Anyway, to refresh your memory, Cole Harding and Finn Jackson have both successfully made it into Duel Academy, and sealed their friendship in a duel with each, which ended in an explosive tie.**

**Hotrod: Well, we hope you will enjoy this chapter. It marks the appearance of yet another rival. So read on to find out!**

**000**

Episode 4

Axel the Hothead

Cole slowly awoke, peering through the darkness cloaking the room. Blindly, he reached behind his bed and swept the blinds covering the window open, flooding the room with the searing morning light.

"Argh," grumbled Finn from the bunk below Cole. "Cut the strobes, man!"

"Sorry," murmured Cole, shutting the blinds again. Finn mumbled a few incoherent sentences and drifted back to sleep. By now Cole was almost fully awake, and he swept his leg over the side of his bunk, dropping the short distance to the ground. It was hard to see in the dark, but Cole glanced at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was only 5:30 in the morning.

"_Ugh...the sun rises early here in Celadon," _thought Cole. It was too late to go back to sleep now, though, so he slipped on his shoes and crept out the door to go for a walk. Since arriving yesterday, none of the newcomers to Duel Academy had found enough time to really explore.

Outside, the sun blazed mercilessly, despite it barely rising over the horizon. Cole shielded his eyes as he walked down the stairs lining the Moltres Red Dorm, gripping the rail and wiping sleep from the corners of his eyes. Finally, he reached the ground, and set out along the path leading into the trees. To the sides of the dirt trail, dew glistened on the bright green grass. In the distance, about a kilometre away, Cole could see the Main Building, looming high above any trees.

Five minutes later, Cole reached the lake. It was a stunning masterpiece, one of the main attractions of the Duel Academy grounds. The sun reflected perfectly off the surface, creating millions of sparkling diamonds. The path itself wound around the edge, so Cole set off, marvelling at the beauty of the lake as he did so.

Cole jumped suddenly as an explosion reached his ears. Twisting around, he saw a plume of smoke rising from a rather large clump of trees a hundred metres away. As he drew closer, Cole heard taunting laughter and people jeering.

Glancing around quickly, the teenager silently skirted around the trees, before finding a particularly large bush. Making for it, Cole slipped through the branches and twigs, before poking his head out the other side. As he realised what he was seeing, he drew in his breath.

The interior of the miniature forest was a massive clearing, completely closed in by the trees. In the clearing, forming a ragged ring, were several students in the blue outfit of the Articuno Dorm. And directly in the centre of the small ring of spectators was a sneering duelist, who looked to be a year or so older than Cole, about 16 or 17. He had long black hair that spiked into the air, and on the boy's wrist was a Duel Disc, its lights flashing. He had a pointed nose, and black eyes. Cole recognised him from the trials; he had been the boy with the Wailord.

In front of the boy was an enormous Metagross, obviously summoned from his deck. Across the other side of the arena laid another duelist, moaning slightly as he climbed to his feet. Smoke was streaming from under his armpits and from the creases in his clothes. A holographic box appeared next to him and a counter inside went from 1500 to 0.

"I win again," boasted the Metagross-wielding youth. "I'm just too good!"

His defeated opponent made a pained face. "Can't you go easy on me, Axel?"

Axel glared at him. "Why should I? If you can't keep up then you lose. Now get lost."

The wounded duelist walked off, disappearing between the trees, as Axel soaked up praise and admiration from his fellow Articunos.

"You're a coward."

The deep voice penetrated the din, cutting like a knife through the small crowd. Everybody turned to look at owner of the voice, a tall boy, older than the rest of them. He had silver hair, and piercing blue eyes.

"Is that so, Kaiser?" questioned Axel angrily. "What makes you say that?"

Kaiser snickered. "That poor kid was a freshman, and obviously wasn't up to your level. There's no glory in defeating a weaker opponent. Why don't you try taking on someone a little tougher?"

Axel didn't change much visually, but everybody could tell that he was angry. "Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe. What's your answer?"

The spectators began to whisper, and Cole – still hidden in the bushes – realised that this Kaiser guy must be pretty good. Extremely good, judging from the fact that Axel had frozen, and seemed to be sweating. He must know that he wouldn't be able to compete with Kaiser.

The silver-haired duelist tilted his head. "Well...?"

Axel was still silent. If he took on Kaiser and lost, his credibility would be shattered. But if he didn't take him on, he'd be labelled as a coward.

"Whatever," he scoffed. "I don't have time for you, Kaiser. I'm going for breakfast."

And with that, he turned and stalked out of the grove. The others whispered amongst themselves, and followed a few minuted later. Some time after that, Kaiser himself disappeared. Cole was beside himself with excitement. The best duelists in the school, with their own secret duelling arena? Cole knew from the rulebook that all duels must be held in the exhibition arena in the Main Building, and only after gaining permission from a teacher. Any duels taking place here would be against the rules, and risking a detention or worse. It was bound to be awesome.

As he ran back to the Moltres Dorm, Axel watched him from afar.

"So, a little Moltres has found us, eh?" he said to himself. A sly smirk reached his mouth. "This could be fun."

**000**

"So, let me get this straight, dude," said Finn, as he polished off the last of a pancake (topped with maple syrup) and pushed his plate away from him. The two friends were sitting in the dining room of the Moltres Dorm, which basically amounted to a large space with a few tables and chairs in it. Off to the side was a small alcove that they used for a kitchen. Blaine was in there now, cooking up breakfast for all of his students. "You've found this super-secret duelling arena for the Articuno Blue's, where they hold illegal duels. Not only that, but one of the Articuno's is a wicked nasty guy named Axel." Finn shivered. "Even the name Axel sounds mean. Anyway, so you see these guys, and your first thought is 'Let's go sneak off after class and watch them'?"

Cole nodded eagerly. "Of course. So, what do ya say?"

Finn shook his head in disbelief. "I dunno, man. I mean, I'd like to come, but from what you've told me these people aren't exactly friendly."

Cole waved his hand. "Oh, come off it. They're not going to see us, are they? I found a great place to hide where we can see some _awesome _duels...unless you're afraid of getting detention."

As Cole said these words, Finn burst out laughing. "What, are you kidding me? It's not what the teacher's will do to us if we get caught. They don't scare me; I'm more concerned about what the _Articuno's _will do if we get caught. They could beat the living snot out of us, man."

"We could take 'em on easily," said Cole hurriedly, trying to think of something that'd make Finn join him. "Come on, we're Moltres'. Fire beats Ice, remember?"

"Yeah, but that's _real _fire and _real _ice. Moltres and Articuno are just names for the Dorms; they don't actually mean anything!"

"At least think about it?" begged Cole.

Finn stared at his plate hungrily, more concerned about second helpings than the secret duelling arena. "Alright, I'll think it over. Now, how can we get more pancakes?"

**000**

"Alright, class! Listen up!" shouted Blaine. Gradually, the clatter in the lecture hall died down, though a few paper aeroplanes were still flying. Blaine glared at the owners, but ignored them.

"Allow me to introduce myself, to those of you who don't know me. My name is Blaine, master of Fire Pokemon. Some of you may think I'm just an old man, and therefore easy to take advantage of..." Blaine gave a wise smile, and surveyed the room at large. "I assure you, that would be the worst mistake you'll ever make."

A ripple of laughter rang throughout the hall, and Blaine chuckled along too, before becoming all business again. "Now, for our first lesson; chain effects."

This time it was a groan that circulated the room. Blaine chuckled even louder than before, obviously finding the student's lack of enthusiasm entertaining.

"I know what you're all thinking: We already know this stuff. Well, so do I, but I have to teach it to you, it's part of the curriculum." The Fire-master clapped his hands, and began pacing slowly back and forth across the stage as he talked. "Now...chain effects. In duelling, it is vital to lay down trap cards, correct? However, no matter how clever you think you are in your traps, your opponent will always have them too. Of course, this inevitably means that your traps could be countered by theirs..."

The lecture, despite being based around a beginner topic, was actually very interesting, holding the attention of most of the class as Blaine described several different varieties of traps, and even ran through a few short case studies on a giant projector screen on the wall behind him.

"The price of 500 Life Points a turn is actually a very reasonable price to pay," rambled Blaine, "as Mold Breaker provides complete immunity to traps for as long it's on the field. It's still vulnerable to spell cards, however, so be on the lookout if you use it."

The old man looked sharply around the room, making sure that he had everybody's full attention, and was glad to see that he did. Well, apart from one person, a disrespectful boy with black spiky hair and a pointy nose, who was pretending to snore, much to the amusement of his neighbours. Blaine's eyes narrowed.

"And, to conclude, what better way to finish than with a demonstration," Blaine declared, and pointed directly at the boy. "Axel Goldberg, isn't it? Up you pop, you can be my test dummy."

Axel grudgingly rose to his feet, and joined Blaine out the front. Across the other side of the room, Cole nudged Finn, who glanced at him.

"Wha-?"

"That's the guy," whispered Cole. "Axel."

Finn turned a curious eye on Axel, sizing him up. He didn't like what he saw.

"Looks pretty nasty, if you ask me," he muttered.

"Tell me about it."

Blaine, like a magician, pulled two cards from his sleeve, passing them both to Axel. "Well, don't stand there like a dolt, turn on your Duel Disc!"

Axel slipped his Disc onto his arm, and pressed the power switch. Opposite him, Blaine did the same.

"Alright, for the final demo. I'll summon my Slugma, and set my trap card, Protect, in face-down position. If you'll summon the monster I gave you, as well as set the trap, please, Axel."

Axel followed Blaine's instructions without saying a word. He looked extremely bored. A Corphish appeared in front of him, along with small holographic box containing a readout of 1400. Behind the Corphish was the image of the back of a card, to symbolise the trap.

"Now, Axel, if you'll attack my Slugma."

"Corphish," said Axel at last. "Destroy his monster!"

Corphish opened one of its claws, and a stream of bubbles poured out, heading straight for Slugma. Blaine quickly activated Protect.

"As you can see," monologued Blaine. "The attack has been stopped. But not if Axel activates his face-down card, Feint."

Axel pressed a small button on his Duel Disc, and his card activated. Blaine's protect shattered, and Corphish destroyed Slugma.

"And that, everybody, is a chain-effect!" announced Blaine, just as the bell rang. "Class dismissed."

The old duelist quickly collected his cards back from Axel, and left the classroom from a side door. Meanwhile, the rest of the students thronged out the door, Cole and Finn among the last to leave.

Cole had just reached the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he found himself face to face with Axel.

"Hey, Moltres punk," he sneered. "I saw you spying on us this morning. If I ever see you around there again, you'll have me to deal with, and then you'll wish you'd never come to Duel Academy. Got it?"

Without waiting for an answer, Axel shoved Cole away from him. The younger adolescent bounced against the wall and fell over. Laughing, Axel left, and Finn helped Cole to his feet.

"OK, the chances of you convincing me to come just dropped from very low to non-existent," said Finn.

"I'm still going, whether you come or not," answered Cole stubbornly.

Finn stared at him incredulously for a few moments, and then sighed. "Well, friends stick together, so I guess I'll have to follow you and make sure you don't get your head bashed in," he said. "But if we get caught, you forced me to come, alright?"

**000**

Cole and Finn arrived just in time to witness the end of a duel. Sneaking quietly into the bush where Cole had hid that morning, the two Moltres' peeked through a gap in the bushes. Finn groaned under his breath as he saw Axel on one side of the clearing, Duel Disc on his arm.

"He's such a pain in the –"

"_Shut up!" _hissed Cole. "You're the one that's going on about not being caught so much, so be quiet."

Finn pulled a face, but didn't make any more sound. With baited breath, the two of them watched the end of the duel.

In front of Axel was a small orb of swirling shadow. A rare Spiritomb card. Axel's opponent called an attack, and Spiritomb was covered in a torrent of water. Axel just grinned.

"Nice try, but I forgot to mention; Spiritomb can't be destroyed in battle! And since it's in defence mode, I don't lose any Life Points."

"You're kidding me!" panicked his opponent, a tall Articuno with bleached white hair.

Axel sneered, and held up a spell card between two fingers. "And now for this! Hypnosis. By discarding two cards from my hand, I can take control of one of your monsters for this turn. And you only have one monster; your Blastoise. It's mine now!"

"_Blast!" _roared the hologram of the Blastoise, and it walked across to Axel's side of the field, turning to face its former master, who's legs were shaking. He had no spell or trap cards, and now had no defence.

"Wow, he's pretty good," admired Cole, forgetting to whisper. Finn slapped him over the back of the head.

"Blastoise, Hydro Pump!" ordered Axel, pointing at the blonde Articuno. The large turtle pointed the giant cannons on its shoulders at its new enemy, and let fire, spraying high-pressure water all over him. There was large explosion, and smoke blew everywhere.

A large amount drifted over to the hiding bush. Despite the smoke only being holographic, Cole broke into a fit of coughs. A sharp-eared Articuno standing nearby turned his head, and slipped over to them.

"Not good..." muttered Finn, but before either he or Cole could act, the Articuno reached into the bush and grabbed them. The two boys were dragged into the clearing.

"Hey, Axel!" called their captor. "Look who I found spying on us!"

Axel stopped jeering at his defeated opponent, and turned to look at them. When he saw Cole, he broke into a sadistic smile.

"Look who it is," he hooted. "The snooping little Moltres. You have a lot of guts to ignore my warning, you know. And who's this?" he added, glaring at Finn.

"How could you not know who I am?" questioned Finn. "The name's Finn Jackson, so don't forget it soon!"

Axel ignored him, turning back to Cole. "Now you're gonna learn what the punishment is for spying on us. Ready, boys?"

Cole looked nervously around him; they were surrounded by grinning Articuno's some of them cracking their knuckles. Cole and Finn's red jackets contrasted to the sea of blue and white. Axel went first, striding forward and shoving Cole over, before kicking him in the side.

"That's enough!" interrupted an angry voice. Everybody, including Cole, twisted around to find the source, only to wilt under the gaze of a tall boy with familiar silver hair. Cole struggled to remember the name, and then it sprung into his head. Kaiser. Standing just behind him was a smaller girl, with black hair running down her back. Timid green eyes widened under her fringe, contrasting with Kaiser's cold blue ones.

"What do you stand to gain by beating someone up?" demanded Kaiser. "If you want to prove your superiority, then duel him, and stop humiliating yourself by beating up kids. Unless you're afraid of being beaten by a Moltres kid, of course..."

Axel was furious, clenching his fists and snarling. After a few seconds, he backed down. "Fine. Stand up, punk, it's time to duel!"

Cole crawled to his feet, and walked across to the other side of the arena, turning on his Duel Disc as he did so.

"Beat this guy up, Cole!" encouraged Finn, but was held fast by the Articuno who had caught him, who held onto his upper arm to stop him from slipping away. Finn shot him a dirty look.

"Do you mind?"

The older kid ignored him and didn't let go.

**Cole: 4000**

**Axel: 4000**

"Alright, punk, I'll go first!" announced Axel, drawing his first hand of five cards, and then another. "Let's start this off with my Poochyena, in attack mode! Then I'll end my turn with a face-down."

A small black/grey dog materialised in front of Axel. It threw its head back and howled. As it did, a small display showed its 1200 attack points.

"Go ahead then, Moltres Moron!" prodded Axel.

Cole grinded his teeth slightly at the insult. He was getting sick of Axel really quickly. Finn was right, he was a pain in the –

"Ass!" taunted one of the spectating Articuno's, causing general laughter.

"Get on with it," called another.

"My draw! And what a good one it is. Say hello to Mankey, with 1500 attack points. Mankey, use Karate Chop!"

A white monkey with brown paws and feet jumped into the air, and cracked Poochyena on top of the head. The tiny wolf pokemon gave one last howl, and shattered into hundreds of shards.

**Cole: 4000**

**Axel: 3700**

"Looks like I made a monkey out of you," grinned Cole, as Axel's Life Points fell.

A small growl issued from Axel's mouth. "You'll pay for that. You forgot about my face-down trap! Giga Drain!"

Cole gasped as Axel's face-down card swung up so it was visible.

"This takes 500 of your Life Points...and adds them straight to mine!" Axel informed him. "Take that, loser!"

**Cole: 3500**

**Axel: 4200**

Cole scowled. "I know what it does, you know. I'll put two face-downs, and end my turn."

From the sideline, still held fast by his jailer, Finn snapped his fingers in annoyance. Axel was a tough duelist, and an arrogant one at that.

"Perfect!" murmured Axel, as he saw the card he had drawn. "Tongue of the Lickilicky! I'm sure you know what that means."

Cole nodded, as Axel drew two cards. "Now for my next card. Of course, you've already seen me use this one in the last duel, you sneaky slime."

A sick feeling settled over Cole. "_Oh no," _he thought.

"Hypnosis! Now, by discarding the two cards I just drew, I can take control of your Mankey. Of course, I can't stand monkeys, so it's going straight to the graveyard, as a sacrifice for my Metang!"

Cole grimaced as his monkey was sucked into a portal above it. A few seconds later, the portal itself transformed into a blue metallic pokemon, with two steel arms.

"And even Metang's going now, since I activate Evolution Overdrive, to evolve it to the next level! Come on out, Metagross!"

Metang glowed white, and grew several times larger. When the light faded, a much more menacing creature had taken its place. With four crushing legs, and an enormous X on its face, combined with 3200 attack points, Metagross was a fearsome pokemon indeed.

Finn shouted out. "Take that thing out quickly! It's damn dangerous!"

"You think I don't know that!"

Axel was laughing insanely. "This match is as good as done, punk! A single attack from this will wipe out almost all of your life points at once! Metagross…Hyper Beam!"

The Metagross charged up a beam, before sending it straight at Cole.

To Axel's surprise, Cole wasn't alarmed. The older boy gasped as his opponent activated a trap card.

"Not so fast, Axel! Mirror Move!"

Axel cried out in alarm. Mirror Move cancelled an attack, but reflected it back to the attacker. The massive Hyper Beam twisted in midair, shooming back around and striking Axel in the chest. He shouted in pain and was thrown several feet.

**Cole: 3500**

**Axel: 1000**

"Yeah!" cheered Finn, pumping his free arm into the air. "You show him, Cole!"

Standing amongst the trees, Kaiser smiled. This kid was good.

Groaning, Axel climbed gingerly back to his feet, and glared at Cole with so much hatred that Cole actually took a step backwards.

"How dare you use my own attack against me!" shouted Axel, and grabbed a card from his hand. "You're so dead now, loser! I activate this...Shadow Ga-"

"Everybody split!"

A panicked cry interrupted Axel, as a sentry ran into the clearing, pointing wildly towards the trees. "It's Chronos and Chancellor Oak, they're heading this way!"

Within seconds, the clearing was virtually empty, as every single student ran into the trees, disappearing amongst the foliage and running back to their dorms. Finn was knocked to the ground as his captor left. Finally, only a few people stood in the clearing; Finn, Cole, and Axel.

"What's going on?" asked Cole. Finn shrugged, but Axel began to back away, glaring at Cole.

"This isn't over. We'll duel again soon, and I'll win for sure!"

And with those final words, he was gone, disappearing through the trees. The two Moltres students were left alone. Suddenly, they heard voices getting nearer. One of them was a lot louder than the other, penetrating the silence like a chainsaw.

"I swear I heard something, Oak. I bet those snivelling students have something to do with it..."

Finn and Cole exchanged nervous glances. If Chronos caught them here, they'd definitely get a detention.

"What do we do?" whispered Cole. Finn shrugged, but suddenly, they were grabbed from behind, and dragged into the bush they had originally hidden in. Once they were hidden, Finn twisted to look at their rescuer.

It was the girl who had stood behind Kaiser earlier. She shook her head briefly, putting a finger on her lips. Finn obeyed her, and didn't say a word.

Outside the clump of brush, Chronos' voice finally arrived, and Cole knew that he was in the clearing.

"Hmm..."

"See, Waylon?" said another voice. It was a lot quieter, and scratchy. Chancellor Oak."It was nothing. Come on, let's get out of here."

"Darn it. I was in the mood for busting some child."

"You enjoy that far too much. It's quite disturbing, you know."

The voices faded away, and Cole, Finn, and the girl stepped out of hiding. Finn turned to her.

"Thanks," he said. "You saved our butts there."

"No problem. You should be a lot more careful, though."

Now that the danger was over, they could get a proper look at her. Long black hair, and dark green eyes that made her look more mature and older than she was. Finn guessed that she was around their age, 15.

"I'm Vanessa Brown," the girl said, and looked at Cole. "Sorry about Axel, he's a moron. Thinks he's so good, but only because he's rich enough to buy the very best cards."

Vanessa looked at her watch. "I'd better go. See you guys around. What are your names, by the way?"

"I'm Cole Harding, and this is –"

"Finn," said Finn. "Don't forget it; the Unown Extraordinaire."

Vanessa laughed. "I'm looking forward to seeing you duel. See you around, Cole and Finn."

She skipped away, leaving the two boys alone.

"Come on," muttered Finn. "We'd better get back before dinner; can't miss it!"

**000**

**Animaster: Hope you like it. This one's mine, by the way. Once again, we're sorry about the wait. Neither of us could find the motivation. I think that's all I need to say...on to Hotrod!**

**Hotrod: Yeah I had a lot of trouble being able to write lately, and if you read my other stories it shows. But know we've updated again. So, leave a review! Or something bad will happen to you.**


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